By: Megan Gosch
Mexico's Secretary of Interior and seven others were killed Friday in a helicopter crash, possibly caused by fog or bad weather.
Francisco Blake Mora, 45, was killed when the helicopter he was traveling in crashed in an area of low clouds and poor visibility, reported the New York Times. The exact cause of the crash is still unknown.
Felipe Calderon, the Mexican President, delivered the announcement of the crash, stating that there was no evidence of foul play and was likely caused by bad weather.
Mora, considered the second in command in Mexico's government, was the face of the antidrug campaign during the height of Mexico's drug related violence. Calderon stated that "I am convinced that the best way to honor his generosity and loyalty...is to intensify the struggle," reinforcing the government's efforts to control Mexico's drug wars, reported the Washington Post.
Dionisio Perez Jacome, Mexico's Transportation Secretary, has asked American and French aviation experts for help in investigating the crash.
Seven others were also killed in the crash, including Felipe Zamora, Mexico's undersecretary for legal affairs and human rights.
I have been living down here in Mexico running me small real estate company for 6 years now and I can say from being here that intensifying the drug war is not the solution. The solution is dealing with the consumption and the problems that "Prohibition" creates. Where is the compassion for a problems that was created by the governments. You cannot tell me that $100,000,000 industry is not being funded and controlled by the powers that be. It is just not possible to hide that much money with out the bankers allowing it.
Hello,
I appreciate your comment and that you have taken the time to read my blog. I would just like to let you know that I am a journalism student, not a professional reporter, and that this blog was created as a class assignment to create a familiarity with news writing and to keep students engaged in current news locally and internationally. As far as your comment about the solution to Mexico's drug war, I would just like to point out that in writing this brief overview of the helicopter crash, I made no opinions or personally stated what the solution should be as far as ending Mexico's drug war problems. In these blog articles I simply took the information presented by at least 2 different articles (usually from the New York Times and the Washington Post) and synthesized the facts from both articles into a quick summary. None of these blog entries state a personal opinion or reflect my feelings on any of the issues discussed in the blog entries. All I've done is take two different articles about the same topic and summarize them (while citing each article and providing links to the original article used!). After reading your comment I was not sure as to whether you were criticizing an argument that you may have believed I made or if you were trying to foster additional discussion on the topic of the drug wars mentioned in the blog. If you did wish to foster discussion, then I am sorry to say that I am no expert on the actions being taken by the Mexican government and do not have many thoughts on the subject. But I did find your comment very interesting and would love to hear more about what you think/any personal experiences from your time so far in Mexico.